The Lagos State Government may be forced to enforce the logistics route for trucks and articulated vehicles, the Commissioner for Transportation Dr Frederic Oladeinde said yesterday.
He spoke at a Stakeholders meeting held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, with drivers, owners and logistics operators in the state, on the heels of recurrent truck accidents in the state leading to avoidable fatalities.
Oladeinde who remonstrated that the protection of lives and property is the key responsibility of the government said the government may be left with no choice than to resort to the state’s transport master plan to check the worrisome incidents.
He stressed that a combination of policies which include erecting of truck barriers, compliance with minimum safety standards as well as restricting movement of articulated vehicles to designated routes will go a long way in curbing persistent truck accidents in the State.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation Engr. Abdulhafiz Toriola noted that the State Government is considering implementing the use of designated routes for articulated vehicles as one of the strategies to checkmate the operations and activities of trucks plying the State roads.
According to him, the government does not want to take unilateral decisions hence it called for the stakeholders’ engagement meeting to dialogue with relevant unions before enforcing the policy.
Besides the Ministry of Transportation, the Permanent Secretary said, is reviewing the Minimum Safety Standard Procedure (MSSP) for trucks and articulated vehicles being implemented by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) with a view to modifying it where necessary, by including the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Officials in the inspection process.
Toriola also expressed the State Government’s willingness to collaborate with relevant truck operators to ensure that drivers manning the steering of trucks are well trained and only qualified drivers are allowed to drive the trucks/articulated vehicles within the State.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation Mr Sola Giwa, said the stakeholders’ meeting was crucial as it would help address the rising wave of accidents and loss of lives due to negligence on the part of drivers and truck owners.
As a responsive and proactive government, Lagos State government, he said, will not condone unabated, truck accidents resulting in the killing of innocent citizens.
He observed that collaboration between the government and Truck Unions in Lagos will help sanitise our roads, adding that all law enforcement agencies in the state have been directed to help enforce sanity on the roads.
Representative of Council of Maritime Transport Union and Association, (COMTUA) Mr. Adeyinka Aroyewun, urged the government to give clarity to its intentions as this, according to him will help in achieving the desired results.
Chief Remi Ogungbemi of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) urged the government to arrest the activities of the area boys who have constituted themselves as threat to the lives of their members, especially the drivers.
Present at the meeting were representatives from the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association ( DAPPMAN), Council Of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations ( COMTUA), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Amalgamation of Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (ACTOAN), representatives of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) as well as Vehicle Inspection Services (VIS).
All Stakeholders’ agreed to work with the State Government to ameliorate the menace of trucks and articulated vehicles in the State.